Ice-cutting machine.



I. G. GILLESPIE.

ICE CUTTING MACHINE.

AYPLIOATION FILED APB.15, 1907.

Patented Dec. 14, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

TORI

WlTN ESSES: (Y.

mpniw. a emum co.. PROTO-LFMOGRAPNERS. wlsumcron. u c.

I. G. GILLESPIE. ICE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APE.15, 1907.

- 942,898, I Patented Dec. 14,1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

QMQW. J

ANDREW a. GRAHAM w. PHOYO-LITHUGRAPHERS. WASNINGYON. n. c.

*n r @FIETQE.

ISAAC G. GILLESPIE, F OAK HARBOR, OHIO.

ICE-CUTTING MACHINE.

ceases.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 14L, 1929.

Application filed April 15, 1907. Serial No. 368,435.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IsAAo G. GILLEsPIE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Harbor, in the county of Ottawa and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ice-Cutting Machines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a machine for cutting ice upon streams and ponds as part of the ice harvesting industry, and is designed to furnish a light, strong, durable, and efficient mechanism by means of which a series of parallel kerfs may be rapidly and conveniently formed to cut the ice into strips preparatory to a further division into blocks.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel and efficient means for propelling my machine upon the ice as its work progresses and to so arrange the saws of my machine that their operation shall aid in the propulsion of the machine.

My invention has also for its object to provide means for regulating the forward speed of the machine so that the movement of the machine may be proportioned to the depth of the cutof the saws hereinafter referred to.

My invention relates also to certain details of construction hereinafter described and illustrated and pointed out in the claims.

I attain the objects above referred to by means of the devices and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and shown, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a top-plan view of my ma chine; Fig. 2, a side-elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a front-elevation of the bracket hereinafter referred to, designed for the support of the rudder-post hereinafter referred to; Fig. 4C, a vertical sectional elevation of the same, on line m-m Fig. 3; Fig. 5, a sideelevation, on an enlarged scale, of the slidable friction-wheel hereinafter referred to and the devices for moving the same along its shaft; Fig. 6, an end-elevation of the cam hereinafter referred to designed to move the friction-wheel last referred to toward and away from its driving member, and Fig. 7, a central longitudinal sectional elevation of the saws hereinafter referred to with their arbors, and showing the. manner of securing the saws in place on their shaft.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

In the drawings, 1 is a rectangular frame composed of stout angle-bars assembled and bolted or riveted together, substantially as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. At opposite sides of the machine and near its front and rear ends the frame and its load are supported upon runners 2 secured to the bottom of the frame. A. rudder 3 for steering the machine is disposed slightly in advance of the machine midway of its breadth. This rudder is pivoted, as at 4, upon the bottom of a rudder-post 5 carrying at top a handle 6 within convenient reach of the operator. The rudder-post is journaled, as at 7, near its top and bottom in the forwardly turned ends of a vertical plate 8 which is slotted, as at 9, (see Fig. 8.) Through these slots pass bolts 10 which hold the plate 8 in vertically slidable engagement with vertical plate 11 forming part of the frame of the machine. Between the vertical plates 13 is pivoted, as at 14, a bell-crank 15, one arm of which projects forwardly through a slot 16 in plate 11 into a hole '17 in the plate 8. The other arm of the bell-crank projects downwardly into the path of the upturned arm 18 of bellcrank lever 20 pivoted, as at 21, between the plates 13. Upon the bellcrank is an up wardly projecting plate 22 between which and the plate 11 is interposed a stout coiled spring 23. The thrust of this spring tends to throw the forwardly projecting arm of the bell-crank 15 upwardly and to slide the plate 8 and rudder-post upwardly and to lift the rudder off the ice. hen the foot of the operator is placed on the backwardly projecting arm of the bell-crank lever and pressed downwardly, the thrust of the spring 23 is overcome and the forwardly projecting arm of the bell-crank 15 is depressed thus pressing the rudder upon the ice and tending to lift the forward end of the frame of the machine so that the weight of this part of the machine now falls to a greater or less extent upon the rudder. Under these conditions the machine is readily steered as it moves to and fro upon the ice.

In case it is desired to hold the foot-piece of the bell-crank 20 depressed for any length of time, a pawl 24, pivoted upon the frame at its upper end, may be caused to engage at its lower end a notch in the backwardly projecting arm of the bell-crank and to hold the arm depressed until the pawl is disengaged from the lever. This is done by a kick of the foot of the operator.

is a frame consisting of two stout parallel side-bars and a rear cross-bar. The side-bars are pivoted at their forward end upon the sides of the frame of the machine, as at 26. The rear end of this pivoted frame projects considerably beyonl the rear end of the main frame 1.

27 is a shaft journaled, as at 28, upon the side-bars of the frame 25, behind the main frame of the machine. Upon this shaft is secured a gang of circular ice-saws 29, spaced apart at equi-distant intervals. Fixed upon the saw-shaft 27 is a sprocket-wheel 30 engaged by endless chain 31 passing over a sprocketwheel 32 on the shaft of engine 33,preferably of the internal combustion, explosion type.

34 is a clutch of the usual or of any preferred construction for throwing the sprocket-wheel 32 into or out of operative engagement with the engine-shaft. This clutch is operated by means of a lever extending forwardly to a point within con venient reach of the operator, which lever, for the sake of clearness, has been omitted from the drawings but which will be understood without further illustration or explanation.

35 is a shaft journaled, as at 36, at its extremities in brackets 37 projecting rearwardly from the upper rear corners of the frame of the engine.

38- are arms the forward ends of which are rigidly secured to the shaft 35, the rear ends of these arms having pivotally connected thereto, as at 39, links 40 which, at their lower extremities, are pivotally connected, as at 41, with the side-members of the frame 25.

42 is a worm-wheel fixed upon the shaft 35 and engaged by worm 43 on the rear end of shaft 44, journaled in brackets on the frame of the machine, the forward end of which.

shaft carries a hand-wheel 45 within con venient reach of the operator.

46 is a shaft journaled at its ends in boxes 47 which are vertically slidable in housings 48 secured to the sides of the frame of the machine near its rear end.

49 are hand-screws mounted vertically in the sides of the frame of the machine and engaging at bottom followers 50 which slide vertically in the housings 48.

Between the followers and the journal boxes 47 are interposed stout coiled springs 51. Fixed upon the shaft 46 near its opposite ends are driving wheels 46 having peripheries spiked or otherwise adapted to engage the surface of the ice. On the shaft 46 is also asprocket-wheel 52 engaged by a chain 53 traveling over sprocket-wheel 54 on shaft 55 journaled in the framework, as shown. One end of the shaft 55 carries a beveled gear-wheel 56 driven by a beveled pinion 57 on shaft 58. Upon this shaft is a friction-wheel 59 mounted in such manner that it revolves with the shaft but is movable lengthwise of the shaft. This movement is effected by means of a ring or sleeve 60 which loosely embraces a groove in the hub of the friction-wheel, the ring being pivotally engaged, as at 61, by one end of a bifurcated lever 62, the opposite end of the lever being fulcrumed, as at 63, upon the end of toggle 64, pivoted to the frame, as at 65. A bar 66 is pivoted at one end to the lever 62, as at 67, and at its other end is pivoted, as at 68, to a hand-lever 69, near the operators seat. The throw of the lever 69 moves the friction-wheel 59 along its shaft without interfering with its rotation.

70 is a friction-wheel mounted on the shaft of the engine and revolving in a plane at a rightangle to the plane of rotation of the friction-wheel 59. The shaft 58 at its end opposite the beveled pinion 57 is journaled in an eccentric box 71, the projecting extremity of which carries and is rotated by a lever 72 connected through toggle 73, arm 74, shaft 75, with hand-lever 76 near the drivers seat.

The operation of my device is as follows: The parts being assembled, as shown and described,- and the machine being upon the ice ready to proceed to the place where the work is to be performed, the operator by means of the hand-wheel 45, through shaft 44 and wormgear 4243 turns the shaft 35 so that the arms 38, through the link 40, raises the frame 25 and with it the saws so that the saws are now clear of the ice. The handscrews 49 are turned downwardly so that the desired proportion of the weight of the machine is taken from the runners and thrown upon the shaft 46 and the driving-wheels 46. The foot-lever 20 is pressed down throwing part or the whole of the weight of the machine at its forward end upon the rudder 3. Now the lever 69 is thrown so that the frictionwheel 59 is moved along its shaft into proper relation with the frictionwheel 70. Next the lever 76 is thrown in such manner that through shaft 75, arm 74, toggle 7 3, and lever 72, the cam 71 is partly rotated moving slightly the end of the shaft 58 laterally, thus pressing the friction-wheel 59 powerfully against the side of the friction-wheel 7 O. The clutch 34 is thrown out of gear so that the saws stand idle, and now, the engine being started, the revolving driving-wheels 46 resting upon the ice, driven through connections 52 to 59, inclusive, and 70, propel the machine rapidly forward, the

direction of the machine being controlled by the position of the rudder. The place where the work is to be performed having been reached, the saws are lowered the proper distance, the clutch 3% is thrown into gear, thus connecting the saws with the engine, and the friction-wheel 59 is moved on its shaft into such relation with the friction-wheel 70 that the forward movement of the machine shall be in proportion to the thickness of the ice and the consequent rapidity of the cut of the saws. Now the machine moves slowly forward, each saw leaving behind it a slit through the ice. It will be seen that by moving the friction-wheel 59 across the center of the friction-wheel 70, radially, the motion of the machine may be slowed down to a standstill or, if desired, it may be reversed. It will also be seen that the teeth of the saws, which move in the direction indicated by the arrows, engage the top of the ice in such fashion that they aid in the for ward propulsion of the machine. My machine in the present instance is, for illustration, provided with three saws but this number may be varied. During the first cut of these saws the operator carefully guides the machine in a straight line by means of the rudder. rd; the end of this cut the saws are lifted from the ice, the machine is turned 'around and is ready to start on its return trip. There are now employed two blades 77 secured to the end of arms 78 and pivoted, as at 79, to the side of the machine next to the last preceding cut and braced and held in alinement by means of brace-rods 80. These blades, after the first trip of the machine across its field, move in the adjoining kerf or out in the ice and the machine now travels exactly parallel to its former path without the necessity of guiding the machine, as the machine is held to place by the blades 77 moving in the channel in the ice. The blades 77 and their braces are readily removable and may be secured to either side of the machine or may be held elevated as occasion may require.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-

1. In an ice-cutting machine, a main frame for the machine, a frame movable upon said main frame, a shaft journaled upon said movable frame, saws upon said shaft, an engine secured to the main frame, a propelling mechanism for the machine connected with the engine, connections between the sawshaft and the engine, and means for regulating the speed of the propelling mechanism independently of the speed of the saws combined with means for steering the machine comprising a rudder which, in part, supports the weight of the machine, and means for adjusting the distribution of the weight of the machine between the rudder and the pro pelling mechanism.

2. In an ice-cutting machine, a frame, a rudder at the forward end of the frame, propelling -wheels near the rear end of the frame, runners at opposite sides of the frame near the front and near the rear of the ma chine, means for varying the pressure of the frame upon the rudder, and means for vary ing the pressure of the machine upon the propelling-wheels combined with an ice cut ting mechanism and an engine adapted for connection with said propelling-wheels and with said ice-cutting mechanism.

3. In an ice cutting machine, a main frame, a rearwardly projecting saw-frame pivoted upon the main frame, a shaft journaled upon the main frame transversely of its rear end, arms secured to said shaft, connections between said arms and the sawframe, a worm-wheel on said shaft, another shaft, a worm engaged with said wormwheel at one end of said latter shaft, and a hand-wheel upon the other end of said latter shaft.

4. An ice-cutting machine comprising a frame, runners for the frame, a rudder, a propelling mechanism, means for adjusting the distribution of weight upon the runners, the rudder, and the propelling mechanism, an engine upon the frame, a gang of saws, means for raising and lowering the gang out of and into operative position, driving connections between the propelling mechanism and the engine, driving connections between the saws and the engine, a clutch interposed between the engine and the saw driving mechanism, and means for regulating the speed of the propelling mechanism independently of the sawdriving mechanism.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ISAAC G. GILLESPIE.

V itnesses GEORGE PAULSEN, NANNIE A. DUFF. 

